History of Paintball Guns

Growing up as a teen I was fascinated with paintball, it was a new and emerging sport that was still mainly played as scenario combat simulations or woodsball. This is my history of paintball guns.

At the time only a few guns were available. The famed PGP and it's brother the P68. Sheridan was ahead of the game with the marker industry with the VM-68 one of the first semi-auto paintball guns.

Back in those days, there wasn't much of a market for upgrades and few barrel selections as compared with today.

My first marker was a plastic pump action superstore special. Most of us have had this experience, right out of the box the gun broke. Brass eagle was starting to make a hit in stores as paintball became more noticed. While Brass Eagle has some rough starts with markers like the Eagle .68 This large plastic pistol was not very popular but was one of the first semi-auto pistols available. With a hefty price tag and no durability it quickly faded and is now a very rare collectors item.

Few paintball players owned a semi-auto, most could only afford a pump marker. As more semi-auto markers were hitting the market the pumps lost favor.

Some players will play stock class games, which demand every player to use a pump. Workhorses like the Tippman SL68, Traccer, Phantom and PGP line were the common guns. Some of these guns continue to stay in production and can cost more then a modern semi-auto. Stock class players have to rely on their accuracy and skill to make a hit. There is nothing better then showing up to a tournament with a good ol` pump. You may not get the same amount of hits but the hits you get will be well worth it.

Paintball Gun Museum

Fortunately some groups of players enjoy collection these pieces of history. Below is a video of a paintball gun museum. Some of you may see guns that you had from ages ago from the history of paintball.

If you are looking for a piece of paintball gun history, try eBay. When you are lucky, you can find paintball markers that have been in a closet for 20 years and never used. I recommend looking for a VM-68. These guns get a great response from other players and they have a large owners group available if you have questions.

Paintball gun history is something that we can look back on and be proud of. So next time you think of selling your gun for the latest thing, think about the next 20+ years.